Cox Radio enters Long Island radio market

DavidB. Wilkerson

Industry indexes Radio index Broadcast TV Cable TV Newspapers Publishing Motion pictures Cox Radio (CXR)
CXR, +2.75%
took a step toward the establishment of a Long Island, N.Y.-area cluster Friday, agreeing to buy WBLI-FM, WBAB-FM, WHFM-FM AND WGBB-AM from SFX/Capstar for $48 million. In a press release, President and CEO Robert Neil said the proximity of these stations to those owned by the company in southern Connecticut gives Cox "the opportunity to create synergies in terms of national and regional advertising and management expertise." Upon the completion of this and other pending deals, Cox Radio will own, operate or provide sales and marketing services for 58 stations. Cox slipped 1/4 to 46 13/16.

SFX/Capstar is a unit of privately-held giant Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst. Capstar also sold four of its South Carolina stations and a Daytona Beach, Fla. station to Clear Channel Communications (CCU)
CCU, +1.12%
for $46.5 million. Clear Channel, off 15/16 to 97 1/2 Friday, will own or operate 189 radio stations and 18 television stations upon the closing of all pending transactions.

Mark Begor, newly-appointed CFO of General Electric's NBC, told the Reuters wire service the network will reach its goal of double-digit earnings growth this year, and that it may buy more TV stations in an effort to boost growth. Begor said strong international and cable operations will be among the primary catalysts in the 1998 earnings surge. The shares rose 1 11/16 to 84 1/8. (GE)
GE, -0.28%

Dutch entertainment firm PolyGram (PLG)
PLG, +1.63%
saw its U.S.-listed shares slip 1 5/8 to 47 1/8 after a 3 5/16-point drop Thursday on news first-quarter earnings will be significantly lower than those of a year ago due to lower music sales and margins.The company, whose record labels include A&M, Mercury, Motown, Polydor, Philips Classics, Verve, Island and DefJam, released fewer albums in the first period than it has in recent years, and as a result per-sale recording and marketing costs were higher than usual this year.

Cablevision (CVC)
CVC, +0.31%
rose another 2 1/4 to 132 1/4, continuing a week-long advance. Both Cablevision CEO James Dolan and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner have denied published reports of an imminent sale, but the stock could be rising on speculation its Rainbow Media Group unit may be interested in buying Liberty Media Group's film-related cable channels, which include wholly-owned Encore and STARZ! Cablevision shares rose 3 3/8 Thursday, 3 9/16 Wednesday.

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